


The Richie Tozier Way

by Mortimer_Dead_Sea



Series: Fuck Stephen King: Mort Goes Apeshit Over IT [5]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Coming Out, Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Fix-It, Fuck Stephen King, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Richie Tozier, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Chapter 2, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, they get to be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 04:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21009569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mortimer_Dead_Sea/pseuds/Mortimer_Dead_Sea
Summary: "There were a lot of moments where Richie wished he had come to terms with his sexuality sooner, for a lot of different reasons. He had read a million different posts by a million different people that all said that they felt as if they had missed out on their lives by not realizing their sexuality sooner, by not coming out sooner, and Richie had felt nearly every single one of them. He knew why he hadn’t figured it out sooner, hadn’t come to accept it sooner, and it only made him wish even harder that things could have been different, that Derry could have been safer, that his parents could have been kinder. He wished a million different things.Right now, he was kind of wishing he had come out before finding a manager and agent."Richie decides to come out publicly after getting together with Eddie.





	The Richie Tozier Way

**Author's Note:**

> Me after writing my first IT fic: I'm never doing this again.  
Me four fics later with, like, three more ideas: anyway-
> 
> I wanted to write Richie coming out, so this happened. I wanted to post it yesterday for National Coming Out Day, but I didn't make it in time. That's chill though.
> 
> Also, I know there's a bunch of fics where Richie proposes during a set, but I decided to write one, too. So here it is.

There were a lot of moments where Richie wished he had come to terms with his sexuality sooner, for a lot of different reasons. He had read a million different posts by a million different people that all said that they felt as if they had missed out on their lives by not realizing their sexuality sooner, by not coming out sooner, and Richie had felt nearly every single one of them. He knew why he hadn’t figured it out sooner, hadn’t come to accept it sooner, and it only made him wish even harder that things could have been different, that Derry could have been safer, that his parents could have been kinder. He wished a million different things.

Right now, he was kind of wishing he had come out before finding a manager and agent.

“If he comes out, he could lose a lot of fanbase! People like to take their kids to his shows, what’s gonna happen when they find out he’s gay!”

“But imagine the fanbase he could _ gain _ by playing the gay card! The LGBTQ community is an untapped market!”

Richie often wondered if that’s all they could think about, if that’s all they thought of him the rest of the community he wished he knew better. That they were either a liability or a profit opportunity.

Honestly, Richie didn’t care about any of that. If coming out lost him fans, then he was better off, he didn’t want copies of every shithead in Derry in his fanbase. Right now, he didn’t care about profit margins, he cared about _ Eddie _ and for the first time in a long while, he cared about _ himself. _ He had lost Eddie once, had nearly lost him again for good, he refused to let him slip away. They had gone through hell and back time and time again, and Richie didn’t want to keep anything locked up anymore. He had told Eddie, told the Losers, now he wanted to tell the rest of the world just how in love with Eddie Kaspbrak he was, how in love he had always been. They had talked about getting _ married _ for crying out loud, he didn’t want to keep all that inside.

And if all that meant that other little boys in small towns who were scared out of their minds because they were in love with the boy they called best friend became a little less scared? Then that would be a bonus.

“You don’t have to,” Eddie had told him.

“I want to,” Richie had responded, sounding more sure than he ever had in his life. “Are you ok with that?”

Eddie had paused, but said, “Yes. It’s scary, but it’s less scary with you.”

Richie’s heart had swelled, and he had grinned bigger and realer than he had in what felt like a long time.

A lot of his life for those 27 years had felt muted. Now he felt _ real _ again.

And so he butted into the conversation between his manager and agent by saying, “I want to come out.”

“See!” his agent yelled, and Richie still grimaced.

_ “No!” _ his manager argued. “It’s not happening. I’m not letting him jeopardize himself like that.”

Richie felt a sudden pang in his heart as he remembered his mother’s voice saying, _ “What are other people going to think of you? Do you really want to make your life that much harder?” _

_ “Who’s going to love you?” _

Richie shook his head, and hiked his glasses up enough to pinch the bridge of his nose. It still stung, all these years later.

But it would be worth it. He knew it would be.

He had a plan. And step one was hiring a new manager and agent.

\----

It had taken a little while, and it was hard to do without being found out, but Richie had managed to line up another manager and agent who were clearly good at their jobs. Oh, and they were both gay.

Having other gay people on his team _ ruled. _

He figured step two should have a bit more finesse, but honestly, he was fed up with people dictating what he should and shouldn’t do and how he should and shouldn’t do it. He was doing this the _ Richie Tozier _ way, and the Richie Tozier way was much like a horny cicada- loud and insistent.

“Why the hell are you awake?”

Richie looked down to see Eddie rolling over and looking up at him. Some of the light from Richie’s laptop was hitting his face so Richie could see just how groggy he was. He looked frustrated, but also a bit concerned, and Richie couldn't blame him. It was three in the morning, and Richie was on Twitter.

“I’m about to tweet that I’m gay,” Richie stated plainly.

There was a pause, and Richie watched the gears turn in Eddie’s sleep-fogged mind before he shot up like he had never been awake for hours.

“Are you sure, Rich?” Eddie asked.

Richie nodded. “I’m going to tweet this, then tomorrow I’m going to fire my manager, my agent, and my writer. I have a new agent and manager lined up, and I’m going to start writing my own material.”

Richie looked down at the little tweet box with it’s little blinking cursor. “I’ve thought about this a lot. I think this is for the best.”

He looked back down at Eddie. He studied Richie carefully, and then he nodded. “Alright. If this is what you want.”

Richie grinned. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted, Eds.”

Eddie glared and said, “Don’t call me that” but he was scooting closer to Richie, and Richie could see the faint blush on his cheeks under the screen’s glow.

He felt Eddie’s side press against him, and that warmth gave Richie that last little push, and Eddie watched him begin to type out a tweet.

_ “Just so everyone’s aware, I’m gay.” _

“I figured I could write something more substantial tomorrow,” Richie explained. “This is just to get the ball rolling.”

Eddie nodded, and ran his hand up and down Richie’s arm.

“Your hand is shaking,” Eddie pointed out.

Richie nodded. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to speak.

Eddie rested his hand atop Richie’s, and that gave him all the courage in the world as he clicked “tweet”. He shut his laptop after that, and felt the bubbling of anxiety.

“It’s going to be alright, Rich,” Eddie said, voice soft and soothing. “Things might be tough for a little while, but it’s obvious this will make you happier in the long run.

Richie nodded as he set his laptop on the nightstand and placed his glasses on top.

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to fall back asleep,” Richie admitted.

Eddie looked at him for a moment, and then looked at the clock. 3:40. Well, Eddie tended to get up early anyway.

He reached out, and rested his palm on Richie’s cheek for just a heartbeat before he leaned up to kiss him. He felt Richie melt a little, and so he grasped at Richie’s sleep shirt and pulled him down as he fell back.

Without missing a beat, Richie climbed on top of him.

“Gonna make me tired?” Richie asked. Even though he couldn’t see it, Eddie could feel and hear his grin.

“Shut up,” Eddie said, and then Richie laughed, and he couldn’t help his smile.

They were going to be fine.

\----

Eddie woke up before Richie. He always did, but he was glad for it this time, because it meant that Richie had managed to fall back to sleep.

Eddie opened Twitter, and began to scroll. Just as he had thought.

Richie was trending.

He looked back at his partner, watched the peaceful rise and fall of his chest. He was going to be so stressed when he woke up.

Eddie exited Twitter and opened his contacts, selecting his boss. If Richie was going to have to deal with this today, then he wouldn’t do it alone. Lord knows Eddie had enough sick days saved up.

Eddie called out of work, and gently crawled back into bed, careful not to disturb Richie. He still had a couple hours left.

Eddie shut his eyes, and fell asleep to the sound of Richie breathing.

\----

Eddie woke up to a shaking sensation, and someone saying his name. Or, that is, one of the many nicknames a certain someone had given him. He blinked his eyes open, and was met with Richie’s concerned gaze.

“What is it?” Eddie asked, voice raspy.

“It’s eight, Eds, you overslept big time!”

Eddie shook his head. “I called out of work.”

Richie paused. “Wait… What?”

“I called out of work.” Eddie slowly sat up, and arched his back, relishing in the little cracks. “I know today is going to be stressful for you, and I didn’t want you to have to deal with it alone.”

Richie’s gaze softened. “You didn’t have to do that, Eds,” he said.

“I know. But I wanted to,” Eddie told him. “I have plenty of sick days, I might as well use them.”

Richie smiled at that, one of his softer, smaller smiles that tended to be directed at Eddie and Eddie alone. Eddie kissed him quickly, and then was interrupted by Richie’s phone’s incessant buzzing.

Richie picked it up, and grimaced. It was his manager.

“How bad do you think this will be?” Richie asked.

“You were trending on Twitter,” Eddie said.

Richie let out a shaky breath, and Eddie curled around him as he lifted the phone to his ear and hit answer.

He was going to help him through this.

\----

It had been a long process. The call with his manager had certainly been the worst of it though. At one point, Eddie had Richie put it on speaker so Eddie could yell at him.

Firing his agent and writer had been a much calmer endeavor, but Eddie still hadn’t left his side, and he was still at his side now as they returned to their positions from that earlier that morning as Richie typed out a Twitter thread.

It was all about anything and everything that had to do with Richie realizing and coming to terms with being gay. Growing up in Derry and subsequently growing up with internalized homophobia, coming to terms with it, and then being either being forced to stay in the closet as to not “jeopardize his career” or feeling pressured to come out for what he thought were “all the wrong reasons”. And, of course, he couldn’t talk about all of this without talking about Eddie. Becoming friends with him, falling in love with him, losing him, and then getting him back, falling in love all over again as if he had never fallen out. It was all very sweet really, and Eddie couldn’t help but feel just a bit embarrassed by how his eyes started to sting as he watched Richie write about how much he loved him and how being with him made everything so much less terrifying.

He leaned into Richie’s side, and Richie kissed the top of his head.

Things might be a little tough at first, especially with all the changes, but they would get through it. They always did.

====

A couple months had passed. It was Richie’s first tour since coming out, and he was the happiest Eddie had seen him in a long time. His new agent and manager were great, he had a blast writing his own material, and thousands of people still loved him. He often said that he didn’t care about that, but Eddie knew Richie well enough that it still made him happy. It was the final show of the tour, and in honor of the occasion, all the Losers were sitting in the audience as well, while Eddie had taken time off work to stand back stage.

Eddie watched Richie walk out onto the stage after being announced, and Richie looked so happy as the crowd cheered.

He did his set perfectly, and Eddie couldn’t help but laugh along with the audience. Writing his own material meant Richie got to tell all the stories he had forgotten for nearly thirty years. It sounded so much more like _ Richie. _

“As you all know, I recently came out,” Richie said. The crowd cheered, and Richie smiled. “Thank you, thank you. It definitely wasn’t easy, as you may have surmised from my Twitter thread.”

A quiet laugh rippled through the audience, and Richie continued. “I will say, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my boyfriend Eddie. I wrote about this in the Twitter thread too, but so much of why I was able to do this is because it feels a lot less scary with him by my side.”

A chorus of “aw”s fell through the crowd, and Eddie felt his face burn. He didn’t remember _ this _ being part of the routine.

“He was my best friend when we were kids,” Richie continued. “Our entire friend group was a close knit group of people, but he was my best friend. There were things we did together that were just for us, and those things meant the world to me. Then we got separated for, like, thirty years. That’s a really long time to not have the love of your life.”

Eddie’s eyes were itching as another “aw” erupted from the crowd, a mix of sad and endeared.

“Of course, all those things still mean the world to me,” Richie added. “Especially now that I have him back, and we get to make up for all that lost time. And yeah, it sucks that we lost all that time, but we’re both forty. And for some people, that’s old, but the way I see it, if I live to be a hundred, then that’s sixty years I get to be happy with this man I’ve been in love with my whole life.”

Eddie’s vision blurred, and he wiped at his eyes. When he looked up, he saw Richie looking at him with a soft smile and an impossibly fond look in his eyes.

“For the first time in a long time, I’m really excited for the rest of my life,” Richie said, while holding eye contact.

Eddie couldn’t help his smile, as watery as it was. Richie held his gaze a moment longer before turning back to the audience.

“I know I’m being super sappy, but it’s about to get a lot worse,” he said. Then he looked back at Eddie and gestured for him to come forward. “Come here, Eds.”

Eddie glared at him, but someone handed him a microphone, and he moved out onto the stage. He said, “Don’t call me that, dickhead” and a giggle ran through the audience.

“You love me,” Richie said with a smirk. Eddie shook his head, but he was smiling.

“Now why am I out here?” Eddie asked, gesturing to the audience. “I don’t remember this being part of your routine.”

Richie grinned. “Because it was supposed to be a surprise.”

“What surprise, that you’re gay for me?” Eddie asked. The audience giggled again. “They already knew that.”

“No, a surprise for _ you,” _Richie said. Eddie was about to ask what he meant, or maybe make a snappy comment about how it was no surprise to him that Richie was gay for him either, but before he could even open his mouth, the crowd was cheering because Richie had gotten down on one knee. He fished around in his pocket and then pulled a little box out, and opened it to reveal a silver band. 

The cheers died down, and Richie said, “Eddie Kaspbrak. Will you marry me?”

Eddie smiled down at him, his gaze growing watery again. He didn’t care this time.

“Yes,” he said.

The crowd erupted in cheers again, and Richie jumped up so he could pull Eddie into his arms. Eddie laughed, giddy and watery, and Richie pulled away enough to slide the ring onto his finger before kissing him.

Everything may have been rough for a long time, but they both knew that from here on out, everything was going to be great.

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who came out on National Coming Out Day, I hope things went well for you. I know it's not easy. To those of you who have been out for a while, I hope your life is going well. For those of you who aren't out yet, there's no shame in it, I hope someday you're in a place where you can be open about it.
> 
> My twitter: @mortimerdeadsea


End file.
